


The Power Imbalance

by kethni



Category: Veep
Genre: F/M, season 5
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-21
Updated: 2016-08-21
Packaged: 2018-08-10 04:12:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7829968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kethni/pseuds/kethni
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>‘I’ve never sexually harassed anyone before.’</p>
<p>‘It’s a first for me too.’</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Power Imbalance

 

He was told about the comments before he heard them himself. Some of them were related with a sneer and some with a snigger. He was used to dislike and he was used to disparagement. In this bright new world, using sexual threats to demean and diminish was no longer only a weapon used against women.

So he was not entirely surprised the first time she made a sexually charged comment directly to him.

‘Does it make you happy, Kent?’ she asked. ‘Does your big shiny robot dick get hard thinking about it?’

He wasn’t distressed. He wasn’t even particularly disgusted. He was somewhat distracted. If, for some reason, a robot was to have a penis wouldn’t it be metal and therefore always hard?

Kent didn’t think that it was personal. He imagined that, like Roger Furlong, she spewed sexually explicit imagery indiscriminately.

He was entirely wrong in this supposition.

‘Go swing your big dick somewhere else,’ she said.  

‘Ya think because you’re a man you can just fuck me, doncha?’ she accused. ‘Well ya can’t.’

‘I’ve just about had it with ya cock blocking me,’ she snarled.

‘I’d put ya nuts in a vice but you’d probably enjoy it,' she sneered.

That one had made him squirm a little. Kent was certainly aware that there were those who enjoyed an altered state brought on by the endorphins and other changes in brain chemistry during _those_ sorts of sexual encounters. He had no particular moral objections to anything that consenting adults did within the privacy of their own homes. But the simple truth was that the combination of an extremely low pain threshold and highly vivid imagination meant that he found that particular turn of phrase deeply unpleasant.

‘Jesus, that wasn’t an image I needed,’ Ben said heavily.

‘The woman’s got a way with words,’ Roger Furlong said jovially.

***

 The truth was that Kent didn’t care what Selina called him; what bizarre things she said about his genitalia, or how she felt about him. He had a job to do. He did it. He didn’t much like her but that neither aided nor impeded his ability to ignore the way she talked to him.

But he didn’t like it when she touched him.

He didn’t like it when she squeezed his forearm and he _hated_ it when she grabbed his face. There was a time and place for physical contact: that place was not at work. He had only touched Sue a couple of times at work, and those had been moments of high emotion and intense stress.

It was a relief when Selina began sleeping with Charlie Baird. The comments and speculation about his body dwindled. The touching almost disappeared.

Almost.

‘Pants tight enough?’ she asked before a state dinner.

‘It’s the style,’ Kent said, slightly offended that apparently she thought he’d put on weight.

‘I didn’t say it didn’t look good,’ she said, and slapped his butt lightly as she headed out the door.

‘What the _fuck_ was that?’ Ben asked.

Kent shook his head. He didn’t trust himself to speak.

‘Are you screwing her?’

‘No!’

Ben’s hackles lowered. ‘Then what’s she doing slapping your ass?’

‘I have no idea!’

Ben put his hand to his forehead. ‘She must be drunk or something. Just... stay out of her way. Don’t provoke her.’

‘Don’t provoke her?’ Kent asked. ‘I’m merely standing here.’

‘In your ridiculously tight pants.’

‘That is –’

‘She didn’t slap anyone else on the ass,’ Ben said. ‘So you gotta be doing something. So whatever it is, stop doing it.’

***

‘The woman wants you,’ Sue said. She was striking in a gold dress, but her drunken swaying rather ruined the effect.

‘That is idiotic,’ Kent said.

‘Did you call me idiotic?’

‘No I... No. She doesn’t even like me.’

Sue rolled her eyes. ‘Amy doesn’t like Dan but she would certainly go to bed with him.’

‘Why am I Dan in this analogy? That seems both inaccurate and unfair.’

Sue groaned. ‘Go whine at POTUS. It’s very unattractive. Perhaps she will lose interest in your robot penis and tight pants.’

‘Hilarious.’

***

‘Whoa, Kent, watch yourself,’ Selina said, as she pushed past him.

‘That was weird,’ Mike said. ‘There was plenty of room. She didn’t have to rub up against you.’

‘Thanks, Captain Exposition,’ Ben said.

Mike pouted as he stumbled away.

Kent leaned back against the cupboard and stirred his coffee.

‘What’s she doing in here anyway?’ Ben asked. ‘Doesn’t she have Gary for this menial shit?’

Kent yawned. ‘She sent him home. He kept pouting every time she mentioned not choosing Charlie’s bank.’

‘Lucky fucking him,’ Ben said. ‘If I whine about the power of love do you think she’ll send me home?’

Kent sipped his coffee. ‘She may send you for an MRI.’

‘You think he’ll stick around if she doesn’t bail him out?’

Kent shook his head. ‘They’ve had a handful of dates over a few weeks. It’s hardly a great love story.’

‘She’s got the worst taste in men.’

‘He had to have known that the bank’s position was weak and that they might require a bailout,’ Kent said.

Ben snorted. ‘Would you fuck someone just to keep your company afloat?’

‘I’d never end up in that position.’

Ben scratched his chin. ‘She’s a good looking woman. At least you wouldn’t be taking it up the ass.’ He frowned. ‘I don’t think. Although I could see her wanting to try a strap-on. Hey, where are you going?’

‘Somewhere away from this conversation,’ Kent said.

Kent didn’t consider himself a prude. He enjoyed sex. He felt no guilt about casual sex. However, he didn’t think that the workplace was the proper forum for discussing sexual issues or that the sexual attractiveness of colleagues was an appropriate topic for conversation. Especially not the sexual attractiveness of the president. That was simply wrong.

***

Selina had been drinking. Kent didn’t blame her: it was the early hours of the morning, she had few outlets for stress, and she had parted badly with Charlie. But Kent was trying to work. Selina in a silk nightie blocking his doorway was not helping. It was… distracting. To say the least.

‘Can I help you, ma’am?’ he asked.

‘You can,’ she said. ‘Doesn’t mean ya will.’

‘I’m sorry?’

She sat on his desk. Bare legs, bare thighs, bare skin all the way to nightie, the straps of which were slipping off her shoulders.

Kent licked his lips.

‘Am I a bad person?’ she asked.

‘I’m not the best person to ask.’

‘But I am asking,’ she said. ‘I’m asking you. Jesus, will ya look at me?

‘Ma’am you’re in a state of some undress,’ Kent said, keeping his eyes averted.

‘Ya worried you’ll like whatcha see?’

‘It’s… inappropriate,’ he said.

She gave a throaty chuckle. ‘The things I’ve done, the things you advised me to do, and you’re freaking out that seeing my tits would be inappropriate?’

‘Yes,’ he said, shifting in his chair.

She wound his tie around her fist. ‘Ya must have been fun playing doctor.’

Kent unbuttoned his collar. ‘Please let go.’

Selina caught his face with her other hand and made him look at her. ‘I like it when ya say “please.” Grovelling suits ya.’

‘You’re drunk,’ he said quietly.

‘Say please again,’ she said. ‘I like to hear it.’

‘Please let go of my tie,’ he said.

Selina tightened her grip. ‘Say it like you fucking mean it.’

Kent licked his lips. ‘Madame President, please let go of my tie.’

For a moment, it seemed horrifyingly likely that she was going to kiss him. Instead she blew in his ear.

‘Don’t work too long,’ she said as she stood. ‘I need ya fit and strong in the morning.’ She unentangled her hand from his tie. ‘I’m gonna be working ya hard. Ya know what I mean.’

* * *

Kent called in sick. He was genuinely exhausted as well as being somewhat... concerned how POTUS might behave when she sobered up and remembered her actions. The woman was rightly infamous in the West Wing for her inability to take responsibility for her own mistakes. Kent didn’t relish being blamed for her bizarre behaviour. Far better to remain out of sight for a day, by which time some other disaster would doubtless have drawn her capricious attention.

His therapist had an eleven am cancellation. Kent’s hours and availability were so erratic that she regularly texted him when she had cancellations or unexpected open appointments. It was far from ideal, but compromise was a necessity of life.

‘It’s been a few weeks,’ she said as he sat down. ‘How have you been?’

‘Things have been... increasingly complex,’ he said. ‘Finding time has been challenging.’

Linda nodded. ‘At work?’

‘Yes.’

Her smile was calm and benign. ‘How is work?’

Kent squeezed the bridge of his nose. ‘Largely disastrous.’

‘More than usual?’

That made him laugh a little. ‘Yes.’

Linda made a note on her pad. ‘Something specific seems to be bothering you.’

‘I’m having an issue with my... supervisor.’

She raised an eyebrow. ‘This week are we pretending you work at an office or in a store?’

Kent’s mouth tugged in a small smile. ‘I do _have_ an office.’

‘Hmm,’ she said. ‘You also have a variety of extremely expensive suits, designer shirts, and handmade shoes. You own a boat and last year vacationed in Musha Cay. You are _not_ a restaurant server, store clerk, or office worker.’

Kent smiled tightly. ‘I never claimed to be any of those.’

‘No, but you claim to have a “supervisor” when the evidence would suggest you’re in a very senior position in either in a line of work that’s highly visible or possibly highly illegal. You obviously travel a long way to avoid being recognised. Either would explain your secrecy.’

Kent chuckled. ‘Do you suppose me to be an assassin? Or a drug dealer?’

Linda smiled. ‘Possibly, but given the slight fading on your lapel. I suspect when you visit you remove a flag pin which you habitually wear. To me that suggests a career in politics.’

‘I’ve never wondered what it would be like to assessed by Sherlock Holmes,’ Kent said. ‘Yet here we are.’

‘Does my realising your line of work bother you?’ she asked.

Kent played with his tie. ‘I prefer to demarcate my private life from my work life.’

‘And we’ve already established that, when done in a suitable way, it’s entirely healthy and appropriate.’ Linda clicked her pen. ‘Tell me the issue that you’re having with your… congresswoman? Senator?’

Kent cleared his throat. ‘She frequently laces her speech to me with bizarre sexual innuendos and speculations. It’s common enough that other people have noticed and commented on it. I can cope with that. What is becoming an issue is her increasing tendency to initiate unwanted physical contact.’

Linda raised an eyebrow. ‘You’ve never mentioned sexual content in her speech before.’

‘It’s never been worth mentioning before,’ Kent said. ‘It’s a highly pressured environment. Obscenities and sexual language are fairly common although I prefer not to participate. Physical contact is… unusual.’

‘What kind of contact are we talking about?’ 

Kent shifted in the chair. ‘It varies. Initially it was nothing more than squeezing my arm but it has now escalated to her slapping my… posterior and commenting on the tightness of my trousers.’

Linda made a note in her pad. ‘Is that common to her interactions with her subordinates?’

‘Not to my knowledge.’

‘So, what are your options regarding your “supervisor”?’ Linda asked.

Kent squeezed the bridge of his nose. ‘They’re extremely limited. I have nobody to report the issue to without potentially destroying both my reputation and my livelihood.'

Linda pursed her lips. ‘I would advise that you take some time to think about it.’

***

‘I need you to talk to POTUS,’ he’d said to Ben.

‘I talk to her all fucking day,’ Ben had grumbled. ‘All the good it does.’

‘No.’ Kent’s glass had slammed down on the bar. He hadn’t meant to be quite that emphatic. ‘Her behaviour is getting out of hand.’

‘Seems like she’s got you in hand.’

‘This isn’t funny, Ben.’

Ben had drained his whiskey and waved at the bartender for another. ‘It’s kinda funny.’

‘We both know this isn’t Teddy harassing Jonah to prop up his pathetic ego,’ Kent said.

‘She’s fucking losing the plot, what do you want me to say?’ Ben had asked. ‘Please stop groping Kent, there are better ways to feel like you have some control?’

‘That would be helpful.’

‘Ain’t gonna happen,’ Ben had said. ‘She can’t get blackout drunk, she can’t get high, she’s way too old for cutting. So she gets a thrill out of thinking nobody realises she’s perving on you. Grab your fucking ankles, it’s your turn to take one for the team.’

‘You cannot be serious.’

‘It won’t come to it,’ Ben had said. ‘She’s outta your league.’

***

It was the first time Kent had seen Linda look shocked.

‘He told you to sleep with her?’ she asked. ‘There must be someone else you can talk to? Someone you can complain to?’

Kent covered his eyes. 'Unfortunately not.’

‘This behaviour isn’t acceptable in the modern workplace, let alone in politics,’ Linda said. ‘You could sue.’

Kent started to laugh. ‘That would certainly guarantee my place in the history books.  Kent Davison: the man who brought down the first female president.’

Linda went pale. ‘The president?’

Kent rubbed his eyes. ‘You see my problem.’

‘Can you discuss it with her?’

Kent leaned forward. ‘The regular business of president is unbelievably stressful. The uncertainty over the election is only exacerbating that stress. She and I have had our issues in the past however she used to be reasonable. Now the stress is beginning to tell on her. She’s becoming erratic.’

‘You seem minded to be compassionate,’ Linda said.

Kent shrugged. ‘She’s a complex woman.’

Linda made a note on her pad. ‘This isn’t about a fair and balanced assessment. This is about venting your feelings, loudly, without censorship, and with passion. Own what you feel, Kent.’ She smiled. ‘Tell me you how you feel about her.’

He licked his lips. ‘She’s a…’

‘A what?’

Kent waved his hand. ‘I can’t.’

‘You never have to censor yourself here. Let it out.’

‘A... cunt,’ he stuttered.

‘Louder,’ Linda encouraged.

‘She’s cunt!’

‘Louder.’

‘Selina Meyer is a cunt!’

Linda smiled. ‘Feel better?’

He did feel better, right until he left and saw a waiting room full of startled and shocked patients.

Shame was not an emotion with which Kent had much experience. His parents had never thought it useful or practical to weaponize humiliation as a method of control. However, he was currently hard pressed to escape an unpleasantly inexorable creeping sensation of shame.

He didn’t condone _that_ word. He didn’t use that word. He didn’t use that word as a weapon to degrade and demean women.

He would have never said it if he hadn’t been a little tired and very exasperated.

He wished that he had used some other word. Perhaps it had been its very offensiveness that had made him choose it. It suited his feelings of transgression in verbalising his complaints. It didn’t help that all the others had used it the same way. It made him feel as bad as they were, when he prided himself on being on a higher level.

***

He was surprised to find Selina still at her desk. It was late but he didn’t see a bottle out.

‘Apologies, Ma’am, I only meant to put this on your desk.’

Selina took off her glasses and rubbed her eyes. ‘No, it’s okay. Although ya know you’re not supposed to be in here alone.’ She crossed to the sofa, sat down, and patted the cushion next to her.

Kent put the folder on the desk and then sat down.

Selina moved a little closer. ‘Look I... I’m not angry, I just... What? What’s with the face?’

‘I didn’t think you were angry until you said that.’ He tried to move away but was against the arm of the couch. ‘You’re not going to tell me that you’re disappointed, are you?’

Selina cracked a grin. ‘Jesus, did your parents run on the line on you too?’

‘Oh, yes.’

She put her hand on his knee. Kent tensed.

‘Amy told me that... everyone called me cunt. _Everyone_.’

‘Oh.’ Kent licked his lips. ‘Not Gary, he called you a crone, and I don’t believe Sue has ever used... that word.’

Selina laughed bitterly. ‘Gary called me a crone? God, from him that’s probably worse. I’m not even surprised about Amy or even Mike. Hell, not even Ben. I don’t think I’ve ever heard you say shit, let alone worse.’ She squeezed Kent’s knee. ‘Was it what I said about the tie?’

‘I’m sorry?’ Kent said blankly.

‘When I blamed you for the tie.’ Selina’s hand slid up to his thigh. ‘Shouldn’t have done that.’

Kent made a wordless noise, unpleasantly like a squeak.

‘I know it was your best,’ she said. ‘We all worked around the clock and I made ya campaign manager. That was my choice. I shouldn’t have held ya responsible.’

‘You’re holding me responsible now,’ Kent said. His voice was wavering. ‘You’re just making excuses for it instead of blaming me.’

Selina rolled her eyes. ‘Jesus, willya take an apology? It was wrong of me to take it out on ya. I’m sorry.’ She rubbed his thigh. ‘I rely on ya, Kent. These past few months more than ever.’

‘O... okay,’ he muttered.

‘So, we good?’ Selina asked. ‘You’re not going to go running around calling me cunt are ya?’

‘I wasn’t,’ he protested.

‘But ya said it, right?’ she said sharply.

‘In therapy! It’s supposed to be a safe space.’ He licked his lips. ‘Although I did say it loud enough that it was heard in the waiting room.’

Selina blinked. ‘Wow.’

‘Ma’am...’

‘You’re in therapy?’ she asked. ‘What the fuck for?’

‘Originally for socialisation issues,’ he said.

Selina failed to look genuinely surprised. ‘You don’t say?’

‘But of late... um...’

‘Of late something that makes ya yell out obscenities about me?’

Kent forced himself to meet her eye. ‘Your hand is on my thigh.’

Selina smiled. ‘What, ya got a little ADD there too?’

‘No. Your hand is on my thigh,’ Kent said, uneasily. ‘You been doing that sort of thing recently. It makes me uncomfortable. I’ve been talking about it to my therapist.’

Selina shook her head. ‘Un-fucking-believable. Do you have any fucking idea how… alone I am?’ she asked. ‘Everyone wants something. Everyone hates me. Everyone looks me in the eye and fucking lies to me. Practically my entire senior staff are running around telling reporters that I’m cunt. That is _literally_ the worst thing you can call a woman!’ She leaned closer. ‘I reached out for some goddamn human comfort. Okay? I just need some warmth and affection.’

Kent looked down at her hand, still on his thigh. ‘Like this?’

Selina sat back. ‘Yeah, well. You’re a man. Ya don’t know how to interact with women except through sex.’ She rolled her eyes. ‘Not that ya ever seemed to get the message.’

Kent adjusted his trousers. ‘I’m your subordinate.’

‘So?’

‘There is a _wild_ disparity of power between us,’ Kent said. ‘You’re the president.’

Selina waved her hand. 'By that logic I can’t sleep with anyone.’

‘No, you just shouldn’t sexually harass your employees.’ He regretted it as soon as he said it. ‘I didn’t... that came out wrong. I’m not suggesting for a moment...’

Selina stood up. ‘Wow.’

‘Ma’am... I apologise.’

Selina narrowed her eyes. ‘Why?’

‘What?’

‘Why are you apologising?’

Kent crossed his arms. ‘I shouldn’t have said that.’

‘No.’ Selina prodded him with a finger. ‘You’re just apologising because I’m mad. That’s it isn’t it? What the hell have you been telling your therapist?’

‘Nothing that isn’t true,’ Kent said quietly.

‘You’re a guy! And you probably didn’t lose your virginity until you were thirty-five. Christ, you should grateful!’

‘I never gave you the slightest indication I was romantically or sexually interested in you,’ Kent said.

‘We both know that’s not true,’ Selina said more quietly. ‘I’ve got eyes, Kent. Okay? I know you find me attractive. I just wanted... a little tenderness. Is that too much to ask for?’

He shook his head. ‘No.’

‘I had sex a bunch of times with Charlie,’ Selina sighed. ‘It was good sex. But we never cuddled or held hands. We didn’t even really kiss.’

‘Those are the best parts,’ he suggested.

Selina tilted her head. ‘You’re a romantic.’ She shrugged. ‘Nobody’s held my hand in forever. A guy hasn’t sat with me on a couch and cuddled in... years.’

Kent took her hand in his. He stroked his thumb across the back of her hand.

Selina managed a smile. ‘I’ve never sexually harassed anyone before.’

‘It’s a first for me too.’

‘Ya wanna, I don’t know, go watch TV and hold hands or something?’ Selina suggested.

Kent squeezed her hand. ‘I do.’

The End

 

 

 


End file.
